UFC on Fuel TV 7: Barão vs. McDonald TV Ratings Near Record High

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has been running programming, including live events, on Fuel TV for a little over a year now. The TV ratings over that time have been substantial, especially relative to the nearly non-existent ratings the network was pulling pre-UFC.

Saturday’s UFC on Fuel TV 7, beamed to the U.S. live from London, pulled in just shy of the UFC on Fuel TV record. UFC on Fuel TV 7 drew an average of 195,000 viewers for the initial live broadcast, and added 116,000 more for the replay. That’s a combined total of 311,000.

UFC on Fuel TV 1 drew the highest number for a live event on the action sports network, pulling in 217,000 viewers for Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger, but that was for a regular prime time slot.

UFC on Fuel TV 7 marked the second event broadcast from the U.K., which airs midday in the U.S., not prime time, which makes 195,000 viewers all the more impressive.

UFC on Fuel TV 5, the promotion’s last Fuel TV event in the U.K., drew 111,000 viewers. That event featured Stefan Struve vs. Stipe Miocic in a heavyweight main event, whereas UFC on Fuel TV 7 featured the interim bantamweight title fight between champion Renan Barão and challenger Michael McDonald.

The landscape for Fuel TV is set to undergo massive changes this year, as well. The Speed Channel and Fuel TV, both part of the Fox family of networks, will be rebranded as Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2, respectively, later this year. Not only that, but Fox has reached a new distribution agreement with Comcast that puts Fuel TV and other Fox channels in front of nearly 22 million Comcast Xfinity TV customers with both live and on demand programming.